


Blood Is Redder

by flipflop_diva



Series: Blood Is Redder [1]
Category: Black Widow Series - Margaret Stohl, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Book Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Mind Manipulation, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, POV Natasha Romanov, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Relationship, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Red Room (Marvel), Secrets, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28023516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: After SHIELD fell, Natasha thought she would have time to figure out where to go next. Instead, she finds herself unwillingly drawn back into her past — in particular, into a mission from eight years before when she saved a little girl from the clutches of the Red Room.That little girl is now grown up, and everything is not as it seems. Something strange is going on, and that's before the boy that looks familiar but by all accounts should be a stranger and the men trying to kill them all show up.Not having anywhere to go, Natasha turns to the one person she hopes can help her make it out alive.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Series: Blood Is Redder [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052606
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55
Collections: Marvel Big Bang 2020





	Blood Is Redder

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amberdreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amberdreams/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Art for Blood is Redder](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28010277) by [Amberdreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amberdreams/pseuds/Amberdreams). 



> The idea for this fic was born when I read the Black Widow Series by Margaret Stohl earlier this year. I loved the books, but I really wanted to see what would have happened if the events of the books took place in the MCU universe instead. So here we are.
> 
> You don't need to have read the books to understand the story, though if you want to read them and haven't, this pretty much contains all the important plot points, so spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.
> 
> This fic was written for the 2020 Marvel Bang. All artwork is by amberdreams. You can comment to her at [her art post](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28010277)!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

It was easy enough to slip in unnoticed, her red hair hidden under the mousy brown wig and the oversized sunglasses covering her eyes, joining the crowd of men and women struggling to set up the registration area and the judging area and the different sections for all the kids. No one paid any attention to her or asked her who she was, and she kept her head down and followed what seemed like the person in charge’s orders.

It was even easier to follow one of the women to the bathroom, to cover the woman’s face with a cloth before she was even aware of what was happening and to “borrow” her face with the photostatic veil she might have taken from SHIELD after it fell.

She left the poor unconscious woman in an area where all the fencing equipment would eventually be returned, with a whispered promise that someone would find her soon.

She tried not to think about what Steve would say as she took the woman’s spot behind the registration desk, welcoming teenagers to the national fencing competition with a beaming smile. She had a feeling he wouldn’t be thrilled with her knocking out civilians for a mission that was totally off the books, but she needed to get close to the girl, to see if she was who she thought she was, and sometimes she had to be creative to get things done.

Plus, since when did she care what Steve Rogers thought of her or her plans?

Natasha shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind and focused on helping the teenage girl in front of her, all the while keeping a look out for who she really wanted to find.

Ava Orlova. 

It had been eight years since she had last seen her. It had been eight years since the only time she had seen her. It had been the first real solo mission SHIELD had given her. Or, well, she had given it to herself actually, but they hadn’t stood in her way.

Ava had been the first person Natasha had ever really saved, but at what cost? She still wasn’t sure it had been worth it. 

Ava was also the first person she had ever really failed.

Natasha had tried not to think of her much, or at all. The Red Room had taught her not to feel, to not ever let emotions get in the way of what needed to be done, but that little girl, staring at her with tears dripping down her cheeks, looking so much like she had looked as a child — small and too skinny and red-haired … It had been too much then, and it still was. It had always been easier not to think about her or deal with what had happened at all.

She hadn’t even told Clint about Ava — and she had begged Phil, who’d been her handler at the time, not to tell him either. Clint still didn’t know. No one knew.

But in eight years, Natasha still hadn’t been able to let go of the memory completely, no matter how hard she tried. It’s why she sent the girl birthday presents every year, why she sent her Christmas presents, why she kept track of her when no one else was watching.

Yet, in all of those years, she had never _dreamed_ of her before, at least not until a few weeks ago. But now they were coming every night — vivid, lucid dreams of that awful night in Odessa. A little girl chained to a radiator with electrodes strapped to her head. Her old Red Room teacher appearing out of the dark, taunting her. The bullet she sent through his chest and into the machine. The explosion that sent her and the little girl flying. The little girl with tears dripping down her cheeks. The panic inside her when the mission was finished, as Coulson ushered her away and SHIELD agents took the girl.

In her dreams, the girl was older, and she was angry. Yelling at her. Blaming her. For making her life miserable. For saving her from one torture only to be sent to another.

But there was more. Sometimes in her dreams, there were pieces that almost felt like she was living someone else’s life. Sleeping on a cot in a YMCA. Eating scraps from a soup kitchen. Spending time with a blonde girl, also from Ukraine. A scrawny cat. Fencing. And the reason she was here now — a sign she kept looking at announcing the national fencing competition taking place in downtown Washington, D.C.

It had felt too real to just dismiss it as a dream. Although Natasha wasn’t sure she could have even if she had wanted to. She could barely sleep any more. Every time she closed her eyes, it was like she was living a life that wasn’t hers, and she couldn’t make it go away, she couldn’t stop it.

She needed to see if any of this was real, and if it was, she needed to figure out what was happening. She shouldn’t have any connection (except maybe a lingering thought or two) with a little girl who she met for a few minutes eight years ago, but yet, here she was.

The line of kids registering for the fencing tournament was getting shorter. There was barely anyone in line now, and the clock on the wall was counting down the last few minutes before registration would close. But there was no sign of the red-haired teenager who haunted her dreams.

Natasha felt a weird mix of disappointment and frustration and relief at the thought. She knew herself well enough to know that something was happening to her, but if it didn’t have anything to do with Ava Orlova, that was a good thing. Wasn’t it?

She finished up helping the boy who was in front of her now and was contemplating slipping out when there was a sound of laughter as two girls came through the door right in front of the registration area.

Natasha looked up … and her breathe caught in her throat.

It was her. Tall, thin and with red hair that was just a few shades lighter than her own. She hadn’t seen her in eight years, but she thought she would have known her anywhere.

The girl approached her at the desk, giggling with the blonde girl beside her, the same one Natasha had seen in some of her dreams.

Natasha smiled at the girls, like she had been smiling at all the registrants so far. “Name?” she asked pleasantly.

“Ava Orlova,” the girl replied.

She had known it, the second she saw her, but still, Natasha felt her heart miss a beat at the confirmation. The girl she had saved from a warehouse, from the clutches of the Red Room’s brutal instructor, was now standing in front of her, blissfully unaware, at least for now.

She pretended to type the name in on the computer in front of her. She looked back up at the girl.

“Paperwork,” she requested, still cheerfully. Ava’s friend tapped Ava on the shoulder, inclined her head and then moved a few paces away to get help from another registrar.

Ava pulled a backpack off her shoulder and dug through it, pulling out some wrinkled papers and handing them across to her. Natasha looked down at them and let dismay settle across the features of the woman’s face she was borrowing.

She looked back up at Ava. Then looked at the computer and made some typing motions. Then she looked back at Ava again.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “There’s been a slight mix up. If you come with me, we can get it settled in a moment.”

Confusion crossed Ava’s face as she took in her words. Natasha smiled. “It’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure we can figure it out.”

Ava, looking slightly less concerned, just nodded, then turned to her friend, who was engrossed in her own dealings with one of the other women.

“Oksana,” Ava called to her, “I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

“Is everything all right?” the friend asked.

“Yes,” Ava said. “Nothing to worry about.” She turned back to Natasha. “Okay,” she said.

Natasha stood and walked behind the desks to the opening on the far end, Ava following along with her on the other side of the desks, dragging her fencing gear, stuffed into a huge duffel bag, with her.

Natasha wove her way through the people and the equipment all over the floor until she reached a small unlocked door.

“Just through here,” she said, opening the door and ushering Ava in to a small old stairwell.

Ava turned to look at her, and for the first time, something akin to fear crossed her face. “Are you sure this is necessary?” she asked.

“Of course. It won’t take but a moment.”

She was willing to drag Ava up the stairs if needed — she was not going to leave without having a moment alone with her — but Ava, whose eyes were darting everywhere, seemed to decide it was better to do what was asked of her, and she turned and started making her way up the staircase, Natasha following close behind her.

The door to the roof was locked. Ava pulled up short as soon as she saw it, whirling around to look at Natasha, fear now clearly on her face.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Natasha yanked a revolver out of her pocket, ignored Ava’s stifled scream and shot at the lock, kicking the door open as soon as the lock fell and grabbing Ava’s arm and ushering her outside. The door bounced off the wall and slammed shut behind them.

It was cold out here and a little windy, but they were away from everyone else. Just how Natasha wanted it.

Ava tried to make a move to go around her, but Natasha made sure she was between Ava and the door. Then she lifted her wrist, hit a button and let the photostatic veil disappear, yanking the wig off her head as she did so.

She watched Ava’s eyes widen, turning from fear to recognition to anger — just like in Natasha’s dreams — when she realized what was happening. When she realized _who_ was actually in front of her.

“You,” Ava whispered, and her face twisted in fury.

Before Natasha could say anything, the sound of the door crashing open again filled the air. Ava screamed. Natasha whirled around, pistol clenched in her hand.

For a moment, she forgot everything about what she was doing and just stared.

A boy stood in front of her, about seventeen years old.

A boy she knew. Sort of.

A boy she had been sort of spying on for the last few weeks since SHIELD fell.

How was this possible?

She didn’t have time to think.

“Alex!” Ava cried out.

Natasha turned back to her. “You know hi-” she started, but she never got to finish the words. Ava’s fist struck her hard in the face, and she toppled over backward before she knew what was happening.

\--

“Are you okay? Do you know her?”

The boy — Alex Manor — was standing next to Ava, almost like he was protecting her, as they both looked down at Natasha as she wiped the blood from her nose where Ava had punched her.

“Unfortunately,” Ava spit.

Natasha got to her feet. None of this made sense. Alex was a teenage boy who lived in New Jersey. Ava was a homeless girl who lived in New York City. How could they possibly know each other?

Alex moved now to be in front of Ava.

“Leave her alone,” he commanded.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Natasha said. “I just want to talk to her.”

“I don’t want to talk to her,” Ava said.

Alex tried to pull Ava past Natasha and toward the door, but Natasha backed up so she was in front of it once again.

“I just have a few questions,” she said, “and then I’ll let you go, and you’ll never have to see me again.”

“How about we just go now and I never have to see you again?” Ava practically hissed.

“That doesn’t really work for me,” Natasha answered.

“Too bad for you,” Alex said. “Because we’re …”

But once again, someone’s words were cut off, this time from the sound of bullets flying toward them.

Natasha didn’t hesitate. She dove forward, grabbing both Ava and Alex and pulling them to the ground.

“What’s happening?” Alex cried.

Ava’s eyes had gone wide.

The bullets were still coming, ricocheting off the ground all around them. Natasha looked around, her gaze landing on an air conditioning system that was tall enough to hide the three of them.

“Behind there!” She pointed, and then, holding on to the kids’ arms, she ran and dove, taking them with her, all three of them scrambling behind the AC system.

“Stay here!” Natasha whispered to both of them.

She yanked her other pistol out of her jeans and jumped up, both guns ready to go. She was already assessing the danger. She couldn’t see anyone on the roof of the buildings around them. That meant the shots were most likely coming from the taller buildings across the street. It also meant her shots weren’t going to reach them, but if she and the kids could make it back to the door, they could blend into the crowd in the fencing tournament, escape out a back door and disappear into the streets of D.C.

And then she could figure it out from there.

Something glinted on the ground in front of her. She grabbed up the small bullet, slipping it into her pocket, and then ducked back down behind the air conditioner, whispering the plan to Ava and Alex.

“I’m not going with you,” Ava said plainly.

Natasha looked at her. “Someone is shooting at us. Do you want to take a chance they aren’t shooting at you?”

“Why would someone be shooting at me?”

“You tell me.”

Ava glared, but Natasha could see the fear behind the glare.

“Fine,” Ava relented. “But only because I don’t want to die.”

On Natasha’s command, the three of them ran, diving back across the roof and through the door and down the stairs back to midst of the fencing tournament.

“Walk slowly. Blend in. Keep your head down. And head out the back exit and make a right.”

“Where are we going?” Ava asked.

“Somewhere they aren’t,” Natasha replied.

Ava turned to Alex. “You should stay here,” she said. “This isn’t your fight.”

He glared at Natasha. “I’m not leaving you,” he said to Ava.

“Stop chatting,” Natasha said. She was all too aware that the men with guns probably knew exactly what they were doing. “We have to go now.”

They split up, heading into the crowd that was watching the fencers duel. Natasha wished she had grabbed the wig; her hair was too obvious. She spotted a ball cap lying on top of someone’s stuff. She grabbed it, yanked it on over her hair and kept walking, trying to keep herself as small as possible.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see both Ava and Alex following the instructions she had given them. Good. At least they were listening to her about that. Once they were safe, then she could figure out what was going on. How both of these kids ended up in the same place as her. And what possible connection she had to both of them.

\--

They made it halfway down the alley behind the convention center where the tournament was taking place before the two white vans squealed into place before them.

“Run!” Natasha hissed at Ava and Alex. “I’ll find you!”

They both stared at her for a second, but then they ran. Natasha yanked her guns back out and headed toward the van. 

Three guys were getting out, turning to face her, and for a horrible second, Natasha felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the air.

She knew one of those faces. She knew it all too well.

The people shooting at her were the Red Room. Or former Red Room.

Natasha didn’t waste another second longer. She raised her gun, rained bullets at the men and took off as fast as she could, while the screams from people on the streets echoed all around her.

First Ava, a girl she had rescued eight years ago, showed up in her dreams. Then a boy who she hadn’t told anyone else about appeared with her. And now men she knew from her Red Room days were trying to kill her.

Natasha didn’t know what was happening, but she did know that none of it was good.

\--

She didn’t know where to go. All her safe houses probably weren’t safe if the Red Room could find her in the middle of D.C. when she had taken every precaution to be unrecognizable until they had gotten to the roof. But somehow the Red Room had tracked her down. Or maybe they had tracked Ava down. That was also a possibility, although a more unlikely one.

She wasn’t sure they could just hide out like she normally would either. She could change her identity and slip in and out easily, but she had two teenagers with her who couldn’t. And she couldn’t leave them, not until she was sure they weren’t the ones in danger and not until she figured out what the hell was happening and how everything was connected, because if there was one thing she knew, there was no such thing as this much coincidence.

Normally when she got in trouble, she would call Clint, but he was with his family thousands of miles away and besides that, she couldn’t bring him — and Laura and the kids — into this mess. She couldn’t risk their lives.

That left one option. An option that made her feel guilty even as she knew there wasn’t much other choice. He was the only one who was here, and she knew he would help her, no matter how much it might cost him.

It would just be one more debt she was going to have to repay later, but she couldn’t worry about that now. If she got two kids killed, that was going to be a lot worse.

She got the three of them into a cab, trying to ignore the looks the driver was giving her, hoping the baseball cap she was still wearing and the giant sunglasses she’d put back on were enough to make him not entirely sure of who she was. She couldn’t be sure he didn’t know, though, so she had him drop them off at the subway, on the opposite side the street from where they really needed to be.

A clothing store was on the corner by the subway.

“Come on,” Natasha said to Ava and Alex, gesturing for them to follow her. “We need to do something first.”

“Are we really going to go with her?” Natasha heard Alex whisper to Ava as they entered the store.

“I don’t think we have much choice,” Ava whispered back, but Natasha could hear the bitterness in her voice, and she knew Ava was gone as soon as she got the chance. Natasha just needed to make sure it wasn’t before she had gotten the information she needed.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them entered three different subway cars dressed in completely different outfits. The hood of Natasha’s hoodie covered all her hair and most of her face. The sunglasses hid a lot more. Hopefully enough that no one would recognize her.

They got off at the closest stop they could, but they still had to walk a couple miles to get to their destination.

“Where are we going?” Ava asked her as they walked.

“Somewhere safe,” she said, and she prayed one of them was home, because she wasn’t sure what she was going to do if neither of them were.

\--

Steve answered the door almost before she finished knocking. He stared at her and then over at the two teenagers scowling behind her and then back to her.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know where else to go. We need help.”

“Someone tried to kill us,” Ava said from behind her. “Or her probably.” Natasha didn’t have to turn around to know Ava was sending her dirty looks and probably also plotting to help the people after them kill her if she could.

To his credit, Steve just nodded and ushered them all inside, introducing himself to Ava and Alex.

“Yeah, we know who you are,” Ava said, laughing, and Alex beamed at him. Natasha almost felt slightly annoyed by the adoring looks they were giving him.

“I’m Ava Orlova.” Ava held her hand out for Steve to shake, then Alex did the same. “Alex Manor,” he said.

Steve looked at Natasha. “Friends of yours?” he asked.

“No,” Ava said immediately, her voice back to being harsh. “Not even.”

“I just met both of them today,” Alex said, but he took a step closer to Ava.

Steve looked over at Natasha again.

“It’s a long story,” she said.

“It’s not,” Ava said. “She’d tell you she rescued me, but she only abandoned me to a worse life. And then today she tried to kidnap me.”

“I did not,” Natasha broke in.

Ava didn’t listen. “But someone shot at us instead. And since we’re not sure who they’re shooting at — although only one of us has reasons for people to be shooting at her —” Again, Ava glared in Natasha’s direction. “We came here because there wasn’t anywhere else to go.”

Steve looked over at Alex. He shrugged and gestured to Ava. “I met her this morning. And I don’t know, I saw her disappear and I thought she might be in trouble … and well, I was right, wasn’t I?”

“Okay,” Steve said. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Do you two watch movies or …” He spotted the fencing bags they had insisted on bringing with them. “Fencing?”

Ava and Alex nodded.

“If you want to spar a little, there’s a good spot up on the roof,” Steve said. “No one can see you from down below either. You should be safe.”

Ava shot Natasha another dirty look but then smiled at Steve. “That sounds good,” she said.

“Yeah,” Alex said. “It does.”

\--

Natasha followed Steve into the kitchen of Sam’s apartment and took a seat at the table while he grabbed mugs and started a pot of coffee brewing. He waited until he had placed the mug — two sugars, no cream, just how he knew she liked it — in front of her before speaking.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he told her honestly. His eyes raked over her, from the baseball cap she still had on down her face and to the ill-fitting outfit she had worn as part of her disguise earlier. “You look like hell.”

Natasha laughed at that. It felt almost unfamiliar. Then she shrugged. “I feel like hell too.”

Steve pointed to her eye and her nose, where Ava had punched her. She was sure there was a bruise already forming.

“Want some ice for that?”

Natasha shook her head. “Ava punched me.”

Steve blinked at her, then he looked closer. “Damn. She packs a mean one,” he said.

“Yeah,” Natasha said. “About as good as mine. I’m impressed.” She reached up to feel the tender spot on her face and winced slightly. “Almost.”

Steve stood up and went to the refrigerator. A few seconds later he handed her a bag of peas. She stared down at it and then up at him.

“It’s all we’ve got,” he said. “Put it on your face.”

She wanted to say no. She didn’t need Steve taking care of her. But it also wasn’t worth arguing with him over something so inconsequential. He was probably going to hate her after she told him everything, but she needed him to at least agree to help her. She had failed Ava once a long time ago, and she wasn’t going to do it again. Nor was she going to get some innocent kid killed.

She took the bag of peas and held it to her eye. The cold burned, but in almost a pleasant way. It reminded her that pain was something she could deal with. Something she understood.

“How did you know where I was?” Steve asked.

Natasha let herself smile at that. “You aren’t that hard to track down.”

“What about you? I thought you were off finding yourself?”

Natasha lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “It didn’t go so well.”

Steve looked her over again, but this time his eyes were more serious. He folded his hands around his coffee mug. “You want to tell me what’s going on, Nat? The truth. You show up looking like …” He gestured. “That. With two kids you obviously know but who also don’t seem to like you very much. And someone was shooting at you. I think there’s a few details I might need to know.”

“Steve …”

“If you want me to help you, then you need to tell me the truth.”

“It’s a long story.”

“Then start at the beginning. I have time.”

\--

Natasha took a sip of her coffee to stall a little more. She had never told anyone about Ava, had barely told anyone, except Clint and Coulson, about her past. And there was something about the way Steve looked at her sometimes, like he thought maybe she was worth getting to know …

Natasha used to think she wasn’t scared of anything. The Red Room had taught them that fear was useless, that it was something meant to hold them back. And she supposed they were right. Because telling Steve the truth, letting him see who she really was and not who she tried to be, was terrifying, even if she knew she had to. 

Maybe Steve saw something in her face, even if she wasn’t entirely sure she had meant for him to, or maybe he just guessed by the way she was hesitating. But when she set her coffee cup down, he reached across the table and settled his hand over hers, his fingers warm against her skin.

“You can tell me,” he said. “Whatever it is. I want to help you, okay?”

Natasha nodded. “You might not like it.”

Steve smiled then, a crooked sort of grin. “There’s a lot of things I don’t like,” he said. “You’re not one of them.”

Natasha would have rolled her eyes at something so corny if someone else had said it, but hearing it come out of Steve’s mouth, she knew he meant it, and she had to force herself not to blush. The last thing she needed was Steve knowing that actually meant something to her.

She took another deep breath, decided there was no point in stalling, and dove in.

“It was about a year after I joined SHIELD,” she started. “They got word that the Red Room … where I was trained,” she added, but Steve didn’t look surprised. She supposed she should have known they would have given him at least her basic files to read when they were assigned as SHIELD partners. “They got word that they were up to something. Performing experiments on children. Coulson convinced Fury to let me be the prime operative on the case.”

Now Steve looked surprised. Or maybe horrified was a better word. “They let you go take down the people who …?” He trailed off.

“I wanted to,” Natasha said quickly. “I knew them, better than anyone else. I knew their tricks. I needed ….” 

She stopped again, wondering if maybe she could skip over this part. But Steve was still watching her so she met his eyes.

“I needed revenge,” she said.

“That’s understandable.”

She waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. She continued. “I had to go to Odessa in the Ukraine. I tracked one of my former … teachers, we’ll call him … to this warehouse by the sea. I got into the building, and I found this machine. I don’t know what it was. Wires going everywhere. Lights flashing. But chained up to a radiator next to it, with electrodes on her head, was a little girl.”

“Ava,” Steve said.

Natasha nodded. “Ava. But before I could get her, he was there, behind me.”

“Your teacher?” Steve said softly.

Natasha nodded again. “Ivan,” she clarified. “He was just how I remembered, too. Mocking. Mean. Smug. I was so … I wanted revenge so badly. I just wanted to put a bullet in his eyes.”

She closed her eyes here, so she wouldn’t have to see Steve’s expression. “I wasn’t thinking,” she said. “I was stupid. I got into a fight with him, and he flipped on the machine. I shot him, right between the eyes, and then I shot the machine. But it started making this noise …” Natasha shuddered as she remembered. “I dove for Ava, to try and get her out of the way, but the machine … it exploded … this huge, glowing light filling everywhere …. When I came to, Ava was crying. I got her out, and I promised her she would be okay, that she would be safe.”

Natasha opened her eyes, but she stared down at her coffee instead of at Steve.

“I let SHIELD agents take her away, and I didn’t do anything to help her. I went back home and tried to forget. And SHIELD locked her up … ‘for her safety’ probably …but I let them. And she was miserable. And she hates me. And she should.”

She finally looked up at Steve, dread filling her belly, but he was just looking at her, almost sympathetically. No anger, no judgement. It was almost worse.

She waited for him to say anything, but he didn’t, not for a while. He just waited patiently, and then he finally asked, “And now?”

“I’ve been having dreams,” she told him. “About her. They started once SHIELD fell and I left. I can’t sleep. They just keep coming. And they feel so real.”

“So you tracked her down?”

“I had a dream about the fencing tournament. I knew she was going to be there. I don’t know how, but I knew. So I went.”

“To track her down?”

“Yes.”

“And to do what?”

Natasha shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. She looked into Steve’s face, trying to see if he believed her. “I really don’t know,” she said again. “I just want the dreams to stop. I thought maybe if I talked to her …”

“How about the boy?”

“I don’t know,” Natasha shook her head. “I had Ava alone on the roof, and he just appeared.”

Now Steve frowned. “Try again,” he said. “The truth this time.”

Natasha shook her head. “I don’t know him, Steve,” she said, almost desperately. “I’ve never interacted with him before today.”

“You’ve never interacted with him before today … that’s an interesting choice of words, Natasha.”

He was starting to distrust her, she could feel it. And if he didn’t trust her, he wouldn’t help her, and she couldn’t let that happen.

“I found a file,” she practically blurted out. “When I was putting all of SHIELD’s secrets online, there was a file. About a boy. _This_ boy. I don’t know why. Why would SHIELD have a file of some high school kid from New Jersey? But there was something about him. He looked ... almost familiar, like I’ve seen him before. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”

Steve was frowning more now, but not at her. “And then this kid just shows up the same place as Ava?”

Natasha nodded.

“How much do you know about him?”

“He likes fencing.”

Steve sighed. “Okay,” he said. “Now tell me about the people shooting at you.”

“We were on the roof. Talking. And bullets just started flying. We got out of there, and two white vans surrounded us.” She paused. “They were talking in Russian.”

“Russian?”

Natasha nodded. “I recognized one.”

He stared at her.

“From the Red Room,” she said quietly. “But it’s been eleven years, so I could be wrong.”

“But you don’t think you are?”

“No.”

Steve ran his hands through his hair. “So people with a grudge who found out where you might be from SHIELD’s files?”

“I was careful.”

“You really think these people were there for Ava? Or Alex?”

“No,” Natasha whispered. 

Steve placed the tips of his fingers together, thinking. “Okay,” he finally said. “Then first thing is to figure out who is after you and what they want. And if it doesn’t involve the kids, then we can get them home.”

Natasha nodded. “And maybe while we’re at it, we can figure out what these dreams I’ve been having about Ava mean and why why SHIELD had a file on a high school kid who isn’t anything out of the ordinary that I can tell.”

“You can tell that by a few minutes of interaction?” Steve said. “I thought all you knew was that he liked fencing?”

_Fuck._ She shouldn’t have said that.

“I might have checked him out a couple of times before today.”

“Natasha!”

“I didn’t lie!” she said quickly. “I’ve never met him. And I don’t know why SHIELD has a file. And I don’t know why he looks so familiar. I was trying to figure it out, and I don’t know.”

“You should have mentioned that.”

“You wouldn’t have approved.”

“Maybe not. But I can’t help you if you don’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.”

“I do trust you,” Natasha muttered lowly, but she knew Steve heard her. “That’s the problem.”

Steve didn’t say anything to that.

\--

They were halfway up the stairs to go get Alex and Ava when they heard the scream. They had a bit of a plan — Natasha thought Maria might have access to old SHIELD files and could maybe help her know where to look for information when it came to Alex. And as for their other problem, Natasha wanted to check security footage from around the convention center to see if they could figure out who the other shooters were. If it was someone from the Red Room, she needed to know.

Ava’s scream was loud and clear. A second later it was followed by a shout from Alex.

Steve and Natasha stared at each other for a split second before racing the rest of the way up the stairs. They burst out on to the roof to see a figure dressed all in black with a mask on heading directly for Ava.

Natasha saw Steve grab for his shield that wasn’t there, and she yanked a gun out of her waistband, but before she could even aim it, something happened that she definitely wasn’t expecting.

Ava took a running leap at the guy that was coming her way, dropping down to a slide to kick the guy’s foot out from under him and knocking him to his knees, and then getting to her feet and leaping on to the guy’s back, her legs going around his neck in a move that was strangely familiar. The man spun around, trying to get her off, but Ava grabbed his hair and tightened her legs.

Steve raced toward them.

Ava flipped off the guy, and Steve punched him hard, sending him flying. He looked at Ava. “You okay? Where did you learn to do that?”

Ava’s mouth was wide open, and she was staring down at her own body. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t.”

Steve frowned at her, but the man at the end of the roof was getting to his feet. 

“This isn’t the end,” the man sneered, and Natasha wasn’t sure who he was directing his comment at. Then he turned around, raced a few feet to the wall and dove.

Ava screamed. Steve ran to the edge, Natasha right behind him.

“He’s gone,” Steve said.

“How is that possible?” Alex asked.

“How is any of this possible?” Natasha said. She turned to Ava. “Those moves you did! Those are mine!”

“What are you talking about?”

“How did you know how to do that?”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Well, you obviously do.”

Ava’s face contorted in anger. “I said I don’t,” she snapped. “I don’t want to be anything like you.” She turned to walk away. Frustrated, Natasha reached out to grab her arm, her fingers wrapping around Ava’s wrist.

Ava screamed, screamed like she was being tortured. Natasha stared at her, not understanding what was happening. Ava’s eyes were rolling upward and the screams were still coming out of her mouth.

Arms grabbed Natasha, wrapped around her from behind her, and yanked her backward. Her hand slipped off Ava, who collapsed in a heap, silent. Unconscious.

\--

Natasha was shaking. She had never been so terrified in her life. It was like every piece of training she’d ever had was gone, vanished.

She didn’t understand any of this. How someone found her earlier today. How this kid who she found a file on had shown up here. How Ava could have her moves down exactly. How her touching Ava could possibly have hurt her.

But it had. She had touched her again when she had regained consciousness, and all it had done was send Ava back into agony.

Steve had carried Ava down the stairs and back into the apartment and into one of the bedrooms. Then he had shoved Natasha out of the bedroom so he and Alex could tend to Ava. 

She sank down on the couch in the living room, her hands covering her face.

What was wrong with her? What was happening? And what was she going to do when Steve kicked her out for hurting an innocent girl?

The bedroom door creaked as it opened. Natasha dropped her hands. Steve was standing in the entrance to the living room.

“I think we need to get out of here,” he said.

“I didn’t mean,” she started, but he held up a hand.

“I know you didn’t. That’s why we need to figure this out. This is something much more than some coincidence.”

“You believe me?” Natasha let out a breath of air she didn’t even know she had been holding in. She could have almost cried from relief.

Steve stared at her, then walked closer to her and dropped down to a squat right in front of where she was still sitting on the couch. “Of course I believe you, Nat,” he said. “I know you didn’t hurt that girl on purpose.”

“I didn’t.”

“And we’re going to figure this out. I promise.”

\--

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Natasha asked Steve again three hours later. Night had fallen over the east coast, and Ava and Alex were asleep in the back seat of the car Sam had told them they could borrow, their hands and their heads together as they dozed.

Steve had offered to drive so Natasha could sleep too, but she really couldn’t. Not like this. Not with everything that was happening.

So instead she watched the lights dotting the night sky all around them and tried to think through the events of the day, but nothing made sense, and the more she thought about it, the less sense they all seemed to make.

“You don’t think it’s a good idea?” Steve asked her, turning his head just briefly to look at her.

“Tony isn’t exactly my biggest fan.”

“We saved the world together,” Steve said. “I don’t think he hates you.”

“Maybe just strong dislike.”

“Natasha.”

She sighed. When Steve had brought up taking this to Tony, she hadn’t disagreed. And she knew it was still probably the right thing to do. But if something was wrong with her, like she was beginning to suspect there was, she didn’t exactly relish in the idea of Tony playing with her brain. Nor did she want to have to tell Tony any of her secrets. Steve was one thing; Tony was a whole other.

Once again, Steve seemed to understand what she was thinking. He let go of the steering wheel to grasp her hand, softly and quickly. 

“We’ll only tell him what he needs to know,” Steve said. “Okay?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s going to get to play with tech and break into surveillance cameras. Two of Tony’s favorite things,” Steve said. “He’s not going to bothered by the details.”

“I know.”

Steve squeezed her hand again. “Are you sure you don’t want to try to sleep?” he asked.

“No,” Natasha said. “I’m good.”

They both knew that was a lie. She was the furthest thing from good someone could be at the moment. But Steve was polite enough to let it stand without question.

\--

Steve was right about one thing: Tony had never looked so happy to see her before.

“I hear there’s some freaky mind stuff going on over here,” he said when he greeted them all at the door to his lab after Pepper brought them up.

“We don’t know that,” Natasha said. “And you don’t have to look so happy about it.”

“Hey,” Tony said. “I’m generously taking time out of my busy life to help you with this little problem you have. I don’t need any snarky remarks.”

Natasha looked sideways at Steve.

“Tony,” Steve said.

“Kidding.” He reached over Natasha to shake Ava and Alex’s hands. “Tony Stark,” he said.

“Ava Orlova.”

“Alex Manor.”

Natasha noticed Alex was beaming again. She wondered if this kid had a thing for superheroes. Or at least superheroes who weren’t her. Not that she blamed him for that. She still felt a bit inferior when it came to her teammates. Or former teammates. She wasn’t really sure what they were, and this didn’t seem the time to bring it up.

“So you want to tell me about this freakiness?” Tony said. He led them into the center of his lab and pointed to two chairs set up side by side. Natasha reluctantly sat in one, and Ava, looking just as reluctant, sat in the other. 

“Apparently I can do moves that she does even though I never learned them,” Ava said. She sounded as bitter as she looked.

“And when I touch her, it causes pain.”

“You grabbed me.”

“I _touched_ you.”

“Okay,” Tony interrupted. “I’m sure you have a reason to think this isn’t just some weird coincidence or that our friend, Ava, here isn’t just very gifted. Or does Red have a lock on fighting techniques?”

Natasha scowled at Tony.

“Eight years ago,” she said. “Ava and I were together when a machine exploded.”

“Yeah, that sounds exactly like what happened,” Ava said. She rolled her eyes. Tony looked at her.

“He doesn’t need all the details!” Natasha winced at the sharp tone of her voice. Even she could hear how defensive she sounded.

Ava ignored her. So did Tony in fact.

“A guy my mother worked with had me hooked up to this machine. I don’t know what he was going to do. Then _she_ ” — Ava gestured to Natasha with her thumb — “showed up to supposedly rescue me. But instead she and the guy fought, the machine exploded and there was this ….” Ava paused now, like she was trying to remember. “A light,” she finally said. “A very bright light.”

“A very bright light?” Tony raised an eyebrow.

“Very colorful. Warm. It filled the whole room,” Ava said, and then shrugged. “And then I don’t remember much except waking up in the middle of rubble, and the guy who had chained me up was dead.”

Tony looked at Natasha. She shrugged. “That sounds about right,” she said.

“Do we know anything about this machine?” Tony asked.

“No,” Natasha said.

“Yes,” Ava said.

All heads in the room swiveled to look at her.

“You do?” Natasha said. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Was it important until now?” Ava snapped at her. She looked back at Tony. “My mother helped design it.”

“And your mother?”

“Was a quantum physicist,” Ava said.

“Huh.” Tony whistled.

“I think she did experiments,” Ava continued. “The machine was one of them.”

“But she never did experiments on you?”

Ava shook her head. “She kept me out of her job. Until then. That man …” Ava paused, and when Natasha looked over at her, she saw the girl’s eyes were flooded with tears. “He killed my parents,” Ava managed to choke out. “Before he grabbed me.”

Natasha felt her heart drop. She had known the girl was an orphan — Coulson had told her — but it had never occurred to her to ask. No wonder Ava hated her.

“Okay,” Tony was nodding. “This is good. And do we know who this man was? Another scientist? Hydra?”

“Red Room.” This time Natasha answered. Everyone looked at her.

“He was from the Red Room,” she said again, a little louder this time. “He helped train me.”

Tony rubbed his hands together and shook his head. “So the Red Room wanted to do some nasty mind experiments, is that what we seem to be saying?”

No one answered.

“And they might have unintentionally done one on you two.” He pointed to Ava and Natasha. 

“But what did they do?” Natasha said.

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

\--

Tony was taking his research a little too far. That’s what Natasha thought. She hated every second of it. Being hooked up to machines and electrodes and letting someone she wasn’t sure she completely trusted look at her brain.

He had them do a lot of games that Natasha found childish, but he insisted were for a reason. Having Ava think of a number and having Natasha guess what it was and vice versa. He also had them think of various other things, like happy moments or something red.

After every time, Tony would perform measurements and type in numbers on his tablet and look at them gleefully. Natasha wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk off his face.

It had been going on now for almost four hours, and Natasha wasn’t sure she could take anymore. She was tired and grumpy and had been feeling a little out of sorts for the past couple hours.

“Tony,” Steve said gently, as Ava and Natasha slumped in their seats. “Maybe we can take a little break?”

“Soon,” Tony said. “There’s one more thing I want to see.”

“You want us to think of another number?” Natasha said sarcastically.

“No,” Tony said. “I want you to fight.”

“What?” Natasha said.

“What?” Ava said. She looked at Natasha. “I’m not fighting her.”

“Not a real fight,” Tony said. “Just a sparring match.”

“You want me to fight someone who fights on a daily basis?” Ava said. She frowned at him. “You know I’m just a teenager.”

“I’m not sure I do know that,” Tony said. “And she won’t hurt you.”

“She’s hurt me before,” Ava muttered. Natasha pretended she didn’t hear.

But in the end, Tony got his way.

They made space in the lab, clearing machines and tables out of the way. Tony wanted them to keep the electrodes on their heads so he could measure whatever it was he was measuring.

“You strike first,” Tony commanded Natasha. He turned to Ava. “And you defend.”

“You want me to defend against her?” Ava said incredulously.

“Just concentrate,” Tony said. “You’ll know what to do.”

Natasha frowned at him. She wasn’t comfortable with this idea, but Tony seemed so insistent. She sighed and dropped into a crouch, waiting until Ava did the same across from her. Maybe she could just drop her once or twice and Tony would let this be the end of it.

She moved toward Ava. The girl had her arms up in front of her, like a fighter, but there was almost no obstacle there.

She decided to go for the kick. She swung a leg up, aiming for Ava’s side, ready to knock her over sideways. But just as her kick was going to land, something happened. Ava turned, grabbed her ankle with both hands and yanked, sending Natasha tumbling to the floor.

And then before she could react, Ava was on top of her, a fist coming straight at her face.

Natasha just barely managed to move her head out of the way, and Ava hit the floor where she had been lying. Natasha took advantage of the moment and flipped them both over so Ava was underneath her, her legs wrapped around the girl, pressing her arm down on Ava’s neck, not hard enough to hurt her but hard enough to show she’d won.

She looked up at Tony, ready to stop whatever this even was, but all of a sudden, she felt Ava buck up underneath her, and Natasha felt herself slipping backward off Ava’s body. Ava’s hands were suddenly on her shoulders, shoving her down, and her head smacked hard against the cement ground. Natasha laid there dazed, but then something was around her neck. 

Ava’s hands. 

And she was squeezing. Tightly. Natasha choked, her hands going to Ava’s arms, trying to get her off, but Ava was too intent, too focused. She squeezed harder. Natasha struggled to free herself, her vision beginning to darken.

Somewhere in what seemed a far distance, she heard yelling — Steve, Tony, maybe Alex — but she couldn’t understand what they were saving. Ava squeezed harder, and Natasha’s eyes flickered closed before everything went black.

\--

Something cool was on her neck and her head when she seeped back into consciousness. She was lying on something soft, and there was pressure on her arm. A hand, she realized after a moment.

“Hey.” Steve’s voice floated over her. “How are you feeling?”

Natasha struggled for a second to open her eyes all the way. When she finally did, she saw she was in a room she had never seen before, lying on a black leather couch. Steve was sitting next to her. No one else could be seen.

Natasha reached up to touch her throat. It felt raw and sore.

“I feel like someone just tried to kill me,” she said, her voice coming out hoarse and ragged. She remembered the look in Ava’s eyes just before she had blacked out, that dark and intense expression. She wondered if that was how she had looked before she shot Ivan all those years ago.

Steve’s mouth twitched at Natasha’s words. “She feels horrible,” he told her.

Somehow Natasha wasn’t sure she believed that.

“Where is everyone?” she asked instead.

“Ava and Alex are in the lab. Tony will be right back. But don’t worry. No more experiments.”

“Because it’s hopeless?”

“No, Red. Why do you have to be such a doubter?” 

Natasha peered up at Tony, who seemed to have materialized from nowhere. She hadn’t even heard the door open. He was grinning at her like he had just solved the greatest breakthrough of his life. 

She struggled to sit up. Steve grabbed her arm and helped her. 

“You found something out?” she asked.

“Yes,” Tony said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

“Just tell me.”

“I’m still not sure exactly what the Red Room was playing with,” Tony said, “but it definitely wasn’t some harmless fun.”

Natasha almost snorted. She could have told him that. 

Tony continued. “But whatever that machine that exploded was intended to do, the explosion seems to have opened some sort of connection between you and Ava.”

“A connection?”

“A literal connection,” Tony said. “Between your minds.”

Natasha stared at him.

“That’s impossible,” Steve said.

“It should be,” Tony said. “But it’s not. Though it’s stronger from Ava to Natasha than the other way around.”

“I don’t understand,” Natasha said.

“You wanted to know how Ava can do the same moves as you?” Tony told her. “She can do them because she can access your memories and your thoughts and thus your skills.”

“That’s impossible,” Steve repeated, but he didn’t sound as sure this time.

Natasha just stared at Tony, her mind whirling. She wanted to believe it was impossible too, but somehow, she knew it wasn’t. She had seen Ava copy her fighting playbook move for move, and there was no other explanation. Ava hadn’t been in the Red Room. Ava wasn’t even a SHIELD agent. There was no way a teenager, even one who lived the life Ava had, could do that without years of training.

But if it was true, if this girl — this girl who _hated_ her, this girl she had met one other time in her whole life, this girl she had tried once to save but had failed instead, could now see into her brain, could see her most intimate secrets and thoughts and memories …

The one thing Natasha had always had was her ability to keep her secrets, to protect herself from outsiders, to not let others in unless she was absolutely sure she could trust them. But now Tony was telling her that this girl could see everything, could know everything about her, even things no other person in the world knew.

If she used them against her, if the Red Room caught them and used Ava against her …

Natasha thought she was going to be sick.

She clamped a hand over her mouth, a whimper she couldn’t help escaping her lips. Almost instantly, Steve had his arm around her, rubbing her arms.

Tony stopped talking and stared down at her.

Natasha realized she was shaking. The room around her was blurring, and then her stomach heaved. A trash can was suddenly in front of her, and she vomited into it, wanting to disappear forever as she did.

She couldn’t remember ever feeling as awful as she did at this moment, and she had been tortured and beaten and left for dead more times than she could count. But with Steve and Tony watching her fall apart, and the realization that nothing she did anymore, or had ever done, was safe, she felt like she was in a tailspin.

A bottle was water was placed against her lips, and Steve helped her tilt her head back so she could drink it. Then he was wrapping a blanket around her and holding her against his chest.

She wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. She had never been more humiliated in her entire life. And if Tony told other people about this moment …

“Can you fix it?” she heard Steve ask Tony, and she tried to focus on what the men were saying.

“I can try,” he said. “But Natasha … if it helps …”

Natasha didn’t think anything would help.

“It seems like this only started a few weeks back. The connection might have always been there, but it wasn’t activated before.”

Natasha lifted her head from Steve’s chest. “What does that mean?” she whispered.

“I think it means,” Tony said, “that the people who were after you today might know about the connection between you two. And might even have done something to increase the severity of it.”

Natasha closed her eyes. It was like one hit after another.

She forced herself to open her eyes again and look at Tony. “So it probably was the Red Room,” she said.

“Still checking on that,” Tony said. “But probably.”

“Okay,” she said. “Thanks Tony.”

“We’ll figure this out, Red, okay?”

“Yeah,” she said weakly. “Yeah, thanks.”

\--

It took Natasha a little bit longer to get her bearings, but once she did, she knew what she had to do. This wasn’t something she could run from or pretend wasn’t happening. She needed to face it and deal with it and get as much information as she could.

Tony was at least helpful with one of those things.

“From testing,” he told Ava and Natasha, “it looks like the connection is stronger from Natasha to Ava. Ava could tap into your mind,” he said to Natasha, “but you can’t really tap into hers. Not as well at least.”

Natasha frowned. Ava looked disgusted.

“Not that you can’t,” Tony told Natasha. “But it’s something that needs to be practiced.”

“No,” Natasha and Ava said in unison.

Tony continued. “And most of what Ava can reach seems to be almost unconscious. When she’s fearful or panicked, she’s able to tap into your mindset and skills, but it’s not something she’s doing consciously. Again, not without practice.”

“No,” Natasha and Ava said again.

“I don’t want to be connected to her in any way,” Ava said, and crossed her arms.

“Neither do I,” Natasha said.

“I’m going to see what I can do,” Tony said. “I promise.”

\--

It was the first time Natasha and Ava were alone since their few minutes on the convention center rooftop. Alex hadn’t wanted to let Ava go unattended, but Steve had convinced him she’d be okay.

Ava and Natasha were in the kitchen, sitting at the table across from each other, both nestling mugs of tea.

Natasha wanted to ask Ava how she was doing with all of this, but she knew she wouldn’t get an answer. Instead, she said, “If anyone can figure out how to separate this connection between us, it’s Tony.”

“I know,” Ava said. She looked thoughtful. “People are still trying to kill us, though.”

“Yes.”

“Both of us.”

“Tony seems to think so.”

“Are you sure you didn’t piss someone off and they’re just trying to kill you?”

Natasha almost laughed at that. “Tony’s going to check surveillance cameras and test the bullet I got off the roof. But it would be surprising if it wasn’t the Red Room after both of us.”

“You think they were trying to scare us and not kill us?”

“I don’t know. Seems possible if they really know about this connection.”

Ava nodded. “This is new to me, you know. Having people trying to kill me.”

“I know. But we’re safe here. No one can get in. Tony has more security than any place in the world.”

“We can’t just stay here forever.”

“We won’t.”

“How are we going to stop them?” Ava frowned at her.

Natasha shook her head. “You do know I’m an Avenger, right? And that Captain America and Iron Man are helping us? Do you think we’re just going to hide forever?”

“Okay, fine,” Ava said. She took another sip of her tea. “Once this is done, though, no more contact between the two of us. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“Fine with me,” Natasha said.

“No more presents.”

“I was only …”

Ava cut her off. “No more,” she said. “That’s it.”

“I can’t wait,” Natasha said.

Ava snorted. “Finally,” she said. “One thing we can agree on.”

\--

It was late. Alex and Ava had retired to a couple of guest rooms that Pepper had shown them too. Tony was still in his lab, as far as Natasha knew, probably still chattering to himself and typing away frantically. She and Steve were in one of Stark Tower’s many living rooms, sitting together on the couch as an old black and white movie played on the TV.

Natasha couldn’t have told anyone what it was called or what it was about or even anything that had happened. She had been staring at it the whole time, but her mind was elsewhere, trying to figure out how the Red Room had found her. She had been so careful.

Or maybe they had found Ava and just hoped she’d show up some day.

She felt Steve nudge her in the side, and she turned to look at him.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “Where’ve you been?”

“I’m right here, Steve,” she said, but by his look, she knew that wasn’t what he was asking. She wondered how many times he’d had to nudge her to get her attention.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked quietly.

“Not really.”

“Okay,” he said. “But if you do want to talk about it …”

She cut him off. “Why are you still here?”

“Watching a movie?” He looked confused.

“No, here,” she clarified. “In New York. Right here. You could go home.”

“I’m not going to go home.” He was looking at her like he thought she might have gone crazy.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re in trouble and you’re my friend and I’m not going to leave you.”

“I could call you if …”

“Natasha.” This time his eyes hardened. She sighed.

“I know you and Sam are trying to find Bucky.”

“And I can do that from here.”

“I don’t want to be the reason you don’t find him.”

“Well, then you can help me when we’re not tracking down people trying to kill you.”

“Steve …”

He reached over and took her hand. His skin was warm against hers. His eyes, though, were steely. “I’m not leaving you Nat. Not until both you and Ava are safe. You helped me when I needed it most, and now I’m going to return the favor.”

She knew it was useless to argue. He was just as stubborn as she was. Besides, if she was honest with herself, she didn’t really want him to leave anyway. 

“Okay,” she relented.

Steve grinned at her like he had just won some intense competition. She was about to tell him it wasn’t that big a deal, but the sound of her phone cut through the air.

She picked it up off the table and frowned at the name on the screen.

“Maria,” she told Steve as she went to answer it.

“Hello?” she said into the phone.

“I found something, Nat,” Maria said, without any preamble whatsoever. “And I hope you’re sitting down.”

Dread curled in Natasha’s belly. She wasn’t sure she could take more bad news.

“Tell me,” she said anyway.

“I found some info about that boy you found the file on. Alex Manor.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t think that’s his real name.”

“Okay.” That part was surprising but not particularly shocking.

“I think his real name is Alexei Romanoff.” Maria paused. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. “Nat, I think he’s your brother.”

The phone slipped out of Natasha’s hand.

_What?_


End file.
